How to configure a MeshCentral client to replace Xwayland with Xorg

Intro

After deploying the MeshCentral agents to my VMs, I noticed that some of them produced an error screen complaining about Xwayland. This was as simple as modifying a config file and restarting a service.

Modifying custom.conf

Depending on your system, you will have to navigate to /etc/gdm or /etc/gdm3. Inside this folder you will find a file named custom.conf. It will look something like:

# GDM configuration storage

[daemon]
# Uncomment the line below to force the login screen to use Xorg
#WaylandEnable=false

[security]

[xdmcp]

[chooser]

[debug]
# Uncomment the line below to turn on debugging
#Enable=true

All you have to do, is uncomment the line WaylandEnable=false. After doing so, it should look like:

# GDM configuration storage

[daemon]
# Uncomment the line below to force the login screen to use Xorg
WaylandEnable=false

[security]

[xdmcp]

[chooser]

[debug]
# Uncomment the line below to turn on debugging
#Enable=true

Restarting the gdm service

Once the modification is in place, you just have to issue the command:

service gdm restart

Done!

After restarting gdm, you will be able to access the VM’s desktop using MeshCentral.